KlinCAT - Hybrid storage vehicle of the new drive generation

Lightweight with innovative drive concept

The load handling attachment is largely made of aluminum and is therefore extremely light. The lightweight design means that less mass is moved. This has a positive impact on energy efficiency. In order to achieve the set goal of weight reduction, the conventional design of a telescopic table with belt conveyor was completely put to the test and trimmed for optimized lightweight construction. The targeted omission of unnecessary attachments, the increased use of aluminum and the redesign of the belt conveyor made it possible to reduce the weight of the telescopic table including the drives from over 150 to 80 kilograms, i.e. by almost 50 percent. The total weight of the storage vehicle is only around 350 kilograms. The system's innovative drive technology, which Klinkhammer's design engineers developed together with Siemens, plays a key role in this low overall weight. "The core of the idea was to transmit the DC link voltage via the conductor rail and to generate the voltage of 540 V DC in the stationary control cabinet rather than on the storage vehicle. This not only reduces the number of conductor rails required from five to three, but also the number and weight of components on the vehicle," explains Andreas Hassold, drive technology expert at Siemens in Nuremberg.

"With the KlinCAT, we have developed a high-performance, energy-efficient warehouse vehicle that makes it easier for customers to decide between a shuttle and a stacker crane.

Frank Klinkhammer, Managing Director Klinkhammer Group

Improved energy balance and reduced operating costs

The low weight not only has an effect on the dynamics, but also ensures a significantly improved energy balance in conjunction with energy recovery. The multi-axis Sinamics S120 inverter system from Siemens is used for drive control. This system makes it possible to balance the energy between the motor modules by means of a common DC link. The braking energy of one axis can therefore be made available to another axis via the DC link. The excess braking energy is fed back into the supply network and ensures optimum use of the electrical energy.

About the Klinkhammer Group

As an independent intralogistics specialist, the Klinkhammer Group has implemented solutions in the field of warehouse logistics for all industries and company sizes and has been one of the leading providers in Germany for over 40 years. The range of services extends from warehouse optimization and expansions to the complete construction of new central warehouses. Klinkhammer sees itself as a life-time partner from analysis and planning to software development and turnkey handover - including all-round care through the Service24 concept. With its 360° philosophy, the Klinkhammer Group offers its customers solutions that are optimally tailored to the respective requirements and are investment- and future-proof.

An energy-efficient spindle drive is used for the lifting drive, which does not consume any energy when stationary compared to the belt drive. These factors enable KlinCAT to achieve significant savings in operating costs. For example, the connected load for conventional stacker cranes is around 100 kW, whereas with KlinCAT it is only 5 kW. The actual energy consumption per double cycle with optimal utilization of the KlinCAT is around 20 percent of the consumption of a classic stacker crane. Managing Director Frank Klinkhammer: "With the KlinCAT, we have developed a high-performance, energy-efficient storage vehicle that makes it easier for customers to decide between a shuttle and a stacker crane. If storage and retrieval machines do not provide sufficient performance, but shuttle systems on each level are too expensive, the KlinCAT is a perfect alternative as a multi-level shuttle".

Optimized price-performance ratio

The innovative drive concept from Siemens reduces the number and weight of components on the vehicle and makes KlinCAT a lightweight.

However, the good price-performance ratio compared to a conventional shuttle system is not only due to the lower number of storage vehicles required. The manageable complexity of rack steel construction and the overall control of the logistics system also make KlinCAT so attractive. In a system comparison for a single-aisle, double-deep automated small parts warehouse (AKL) with a height of 12 meters and a length of 35 meters with a container size of 600 × 400 millimeters, level-changing shuttle systems and the KlinCAT multilevel shuttle both achieved three times the performance of storage and retrieval machines. Two vertical lifters were assumed in each case. However, the investment comparison shows that the KlinCAT multilevel shuttle only requires around 1.6 times the investment compared to the storage and retrieval machine, despite 3 times the performance, while a "level-changing shuttle system" costs 2.3 times as much. A level-bound shuttle system with a full technical configuration costs significantly more.

Optimum use of space

The lower approach dimension of the KlinCAT was minimized in the design in order to make optimum use of the available shelf height. For example, the drives of the load table are arranged laterally in front of the telescopic table to save space. Together with the weight-optimized, slim design of the KlinCAT, several rows can be added per rack, depending on the size of the warehouse.

Elaborate shelf construction? Not with KlinCAT

One disadvantage of a conventional shuttle system is the complex rack construction. Rails and conductor rails have to be installed on every single level. With KlinCAT, rails are only required every five to nine levels. Klinkhammer uses cost-effective, three-pole conductor rails instead of five-pole ones.

www.klinkhammer.com